Print providers should be able to offer any kind of product their end clients desire, says Propago’s Rick Aberle. “Our portal can accommodate any kind of product, including print, promotional, apparel, and wall coverings, for instance.” ACHIEVING WEB-TO-PRINT SUCCESS The latest web-to-print technologies are helping print providers propel their businesses to new levels. By Jeffrey Steele The web-to-print marketplace is helping revolutionize the printing industry. And it’s doing so at a time when print service providers (PSPs) need that revolution to help take them into areas beyond printing. Via web-to-print, they’re able to diversify their product off erings to customers, transitioning from printing into areas from apparel to wall coverings to scratchcards and promotional items – and indeed almost anything their customers need to grow their brands. Web-to-print is also making it easy for PSPs to off er portals allowing for quicker, simpler, and more convenient ordering of all those products by their customers. To take full advantage of web-to-print, PSPs must approach their businesses differently than they have in the past. Th ey need to become marketing partners with their clients, grow conversant in both traditional and social marketing, and explore niches and specialty areas that can help make them heroes to their customers. Leading trends PSPs are rolling along with web-toprint technologies’ leading trends to propel their businesses to new levels, says Joseph Lehn, director of product management for Presswise by SmartSoft , the provider of workfl ow-management soft ware. “For example, there is great opportunity in the corporate marketing space for printers to develop portals for key clients, containing catalogs of frequently ordered items and providing access to their complete order history to make it easy to order and reorder materials. According to Dwight Kelly, chief technology offi cer and CEO for Apago, Inc., the key trends in web-to-print include workfl ow automation, variable data, shorter runs, and expanded off erings that include integrated mailing services. Workfl ow automation allows “handsoff , lights-out automation,” making it easy to scale a business because fewer employees need be involved, says Kelly, who a quarter century ago launched his soft ware development and consulting fi rm focused on graphic-arts products. Variable data and shorter runs are another increasingly important development. “One thing they’ve been doing on the back end, which the customer doesn’t see but the PSP does, is advance batching, so you can get discounts from the post offi ce,” he says. “If you are about to crank up your press, it’s good to have a long run of output with the same paper stock and same fi nishing options like UV coating, and if you’re mailing the same mail class. Your workfl ow automation system can do that automatically, batching together like jobs and sending them to the press. In the web-to-print market space, print providers can off er as an additional service assembling the mailing list. Companies like Postcard Mania let you choose templates, customize the February 2 PrintingNews®com 017 ® Printing News 17
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